Monday, November 28, 2016

A Special Issue: Muslims in China

After China cracked down on religion during the Cultural Revolution, its
Muslim minorities had to maintain a low profile, and relations with most Muslim
nations cooled. In the early 1980’s, however, China again reached out to the
world. Some Arab countries responded; during his visit to the United States in
February, King Fahd said Saudi Arabia’s athletes would compete in the 1986
Asian and African Games in China, and countries like Oman, Kuwait and the
United Arab Emirates established economic and political ties. Meanwhile,
unconfirmed reports from China suggested that Islam had survived, and was
flourishing, so Aramco World asked permission to send in a team to
observe and inter- view Chinese Muslims.
For nine months, it was uncertain what China would say, but finally, on July
8, 1984, Contributing Editor John Lawton, photographer Nik Wheeler —
sacrificing an assignment at the Olympics — and Nevim Lawton, John’s Turkish
speaking wife, translator and Girl-Friday, set off on a 5,250 kilometer trip within
China (3,225 miles) — including one flight that brought them a third of the way
back to Europe and a three day train trip across the Gobi Desert.
The team — possibly the first to ever tackle this subject since the Cultural
Revolution — got total support from the All-China Journalists Association, the
group that arranged their tour. Wheeler said he was perfectly free to shoot
whatever he wanted, and the Lawtons were able to interview Turkic speaking
Uighur and Kazakh Muslims without any official interference.
"Whatever the problems in the past," said Lawton, "Muslims —
and reporters — now seem to have a measure of freedom." — The
EditorsTABLE OF CONTENTS:

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